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Christian Identity in the Theology of Karl Rahner Marquette University e-Publications@Marquette Dissertations, Theses, and Professional Dissertations (1934 -) Projects The Mystical and Political Body: Christian Identity in the Theology of Karl Rahner Erin Kidd Marquette University Follow this and additional works at: https://epublications.marquette.edu/dissertations_mu Part of the Catholic Studies Commons, Christianity Commons, and the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Kidd, Erin, "The Mystical and Political Body: Christian Identity in the Theology of Karl Rahner" (2016). Dissertations (1934 -). 610. https://epublications.marquette.edu/dissertations_mu/610 THE MYSTICAL AND POLITICAL BODY: CHRISTIAN IDENTITY IN THE THEOLOGY OF KARL RAHNER by Erin Kidd, B.A., M.T.S. A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School, Marquette University, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Milwaukee, Wisconsin May 2016 ABSTRACT THE MYSTICAL AND POLITICAL BODY: CHRISTIAN IDENTITY IN THE THEOLOGY OF KARL RAHNER Erin Kidd, B.A., M.T.S. Marquette University Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner (1904-1984) is well known for initiating the turn to the subject in Catholic theology. The heart of Rahner’s theological reflection is the experience of God as encouraged by Ignatius of Loyola’s Spiritual Exercises. In questioning how the subject experiences God, Rahner develops a theological anthropology that attempts to elucidate the original unity of spirit and matter. As he argues, the human being is “spirit-in-world,”—the one who actualizes her transcendence in space and over time. While Rahner’s readers have been quick to draw out the implications of the subject as spirit, they have been less attentive to exactly how this spirit is in-world. I argue that feminist philosopher Shannon Sullivan’s account of the self as transactional can illuminate Rahner’s understanding of the subject as spirit-in-world. Her theory provides a way of speaking about a freedom that is no less embodied or socially embedded, and can therefore illuminate how the freedom to effect a fundamental option for God is social and historical. More broadly, appropriating Sullivan’s work into a Christian theology of the body provides a framework for talking about the intersection of embodiment and Christian identity. In turn, Rahner’s theology allows us to evaluate forms of identity construction according to the norms of love of God, neighbor, and self. When we understand that human beings are precisely those spirits that accomplish themselves in and through matter, what follows is an understanding of the human body as simultaneously the site of the experience of God and political transformation. This understanding of the human person ultimately calls forth a way of life—one that demands solidarity with those who suffer, vigilance over our habits of bodying, openness to mystery, and hope in the world to come. i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Erin Kidd, B.A., M.T.S. This dissertation is a reflection on the fact that human beings are constituted by and for the other. My dependence on the following people in completing this work cannot go unsaid. From my first day at Marquette University, Robert Masson has worked tirelessly to support my writing and teaching. Through independent study, comprehensive exams, two different dissertation ideas, conference proposals, team-teaching, job applications, and a million rough drafts, he has offered careful feedback and encouragement. Bob and the rest of my dissertation board, D. Stephen Long, Bryan Massingale, Danielle Nussberger, and Theresa Tobin, have modeled to me what it means to be brilliant scholars and generous human beings. Special thanks is due to Bryan for coming on late, and for Theresa who was willing to serve outside her own department. In addition to my boardmembers, I am grateful for Michael Monahan, Sharon Pace, and David Schultenover who were excellent teachers and examiners. I was lucky to find a supportive community among other Marquette theology students, especially Rick Barry, Christopher Brenna, Anne Carpenter, Kirsten Guidero, Christopher Hadley, Dan Morehead, Andrew Kuzma, Nathan Lunsford, Kellen Plaxco, Jakob Rinderknecht and Andy Vink. I have written the majority of this dissertation while a faculty member at St. John’s University in Queens and many thanks go to the Department of Theology and Religious studies here. Meghan Clark, Jeremy Cruz, John Fitzgerald, Joanne Heaney- ii Hunter, Robert Rivera, Jean-Pierre Ruiz, and Christopher Vogt in particular have offered their mentorship and friendship. My graduate assistant Richard Williams made it possible to make it through my first semester of full-time teaching and research. My students at St. John’s have not settled for easy answers when it comes to God-talk and the question of suffering. They are the unnamed interlocuters in this text. Much is owed to my fellow “Women in Theology”—Sonja Anderson, Elizabeth Antus, Bridget O’Brien, Julia Feder, Katie Grimes, Megan McCabe, and Elizabeth Pyne. I would not be a theologian apart from them. During my time at the University of Notre Dame, I was fortunate enough to take classes with J. Matthew Ashley, Jennifer Herdt, M. Catherine Hilkert and Cyril O’Regan, who inspired me to pursue a doctorate in Theology and supported me in my applications. Matt Ashley’s Rahner course and Cathy Hilkert’s feminist theology course were critical not only to intellectual formation, but in developing this particular research project. I am also thankful to Mark Gedney at Gordon College, who first proposed the idea that I should apply to graduate programs in theology. Brianne Jacobs and Elizabeth Pyne were a demanding but encouraging writing group. They read multiple drafts of this dissertation, and some of its main ideas were scribbled hastily during our meetings. Finally, much love goes to my parents, who always made sure I had books to read and a place to write. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………………………………. i CONVENTIONS REGARDING REFERENCES TO RAHNER’S WORK……………………………………………………………………………….. vi INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………………………… 1 CHAPTER 1: THE CRISES OF THE TRANSCENDENTAL SUBJECT……………………………. 7 The Ernstfall……………………………………………………………………………………. 9 Auschwitz………………………………………………………………………………………. 17 Trauma…………………………………………………………………………………………. 37 Conclusion: Resurrecting the Body in Rahner’s Theology……………………………………. 42 CHAPTER 2: THE SUBJECT AS SPIRIT-IN-WORLD………………………………….…………. 44 The Early Rahner’s “Ordinary Mysticism”……………………………………………………. 46 Geist in Welt………………………………………………………………………...…………. 49 The Conversion to the Phantasm………………………………………………………. 51 The Vorgriff auf Esse……………………………………………………….…………. 59 The Theological Anthropology of Geist in Welt…………………………….…………. 70 The Body in Geist in Welt…………………………………………………...…………. 75 Rahner after Geist in Welt…………………………………………………………..…………. 84 Conclusion: The Mystical Subject of Geist in Welt………………………………...…………. 94 CHAPTER 3: FREEDOM EMBODIED…………………………………………………..…………. 96 Hörer des Wortes…………………………………………………………………...…………. 100 The Free Word of God……………………………...……………………….…………. 103 Human Being as Hearer of the Word……………………………...………...…………. 106 Hörer des Wortes as Ignatian Theology…………………………………….…………. 120 The Later Rahner: On Embodying One’s "Yes” to God………………………………………. 123 The Body of Christ……………………………...…………………………...…………. 128 The Body as Symbol……………………………...……………………………………. 130 Love of God and Love of Neighbor……………………………………………………. 135 iv Concupiscence……………………………………………………………….…………. 139 Freedom as Created Mystery………………………………………………..…………. 145 The Body as Open System…………………………………………………..…………. 152 Questions Remaining about Rahner’s Understanding of Embodiment……..…………. 160 Rage and Resistance: The Liberative Potential of Spirit-in-World……………………………. 161 Conclusion: Toward a Christian View of the Body………………………………...…………. 167 CHAPTER 4: TRANSACTIONAL BODIES……………………………………………..…………. 170 Judith Butler and the Paradox of Bodily Inscription………………………………..…………. 173 Gender Trouble……………………………………………………………...…………. 178 Removing the Doer from the Deed: Seyla Benhabib's Criticism of Butler…………………………………………………………...…………. 184 Bodies that Matter…………………………………………………………...…………. 186 The Professor of Parody: Martha Nussbaum’s Criticism of Butler……………………. 190 Giving an Account of Oneself……………………………………………….…………. 200 Constructing the Body after Butler………………………………………….…………. 208 Shannon Sullivan and Transactional Bodying……………………………………...…………. 210 John Dewey and the Habits of Transactional Bodying……………………...…………. 211 The Transactional Body and Identity Politics……………………………….…………. 222 Transforming Habits………………………………………………………...…………. 226 Habits of Race and Racism………………………………………………….…………. 234 The Physiology of Sexism and Racism……………………………………..…………. 238 Conclusion: The Body as Transactional………………………………………………………. 241 CHAPTER 5: RETURNING TO THE SUBJECT AS SPIRIT-IN-WORLD……………..…………. 243 Spirit-in-World as Transactional Bodying………………………………………….…………. 245 The Self as Constituted by the Other………………………………………..…………. 245 Spirituality as Historically Mediated………………………………………..…………. 252 Habit and Concupiscence………………………………………………………………. 256 Hope and Redemption in the Body of Christ………………………………..…………. 259 The Praxis of Christian Identity…………………………………………………….…………. 264 v Rahner and Balthasar………………………………………………………..…………. 265 Rahner and Metz…………………………………………………………….…………. 269 Rahner and Beste………………………………………………………………………. 273 Conclusion: The Mystical and Political Body…………………………………………………. 277 CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………………….………….
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